Data Bus Inversion (DBI) is a coding technique often employed by memory systems to simplify power delivery networks by minimizing supply current switching transients. The technique generally involves inverting logical “1”s or “0”s for a given set of bits based on predefined criteria.
While the DBI technique works well for its intended applications, conventional implementations typically utilize a separate control pin to provide a signal along a dedicated signal path between a memory controller and a memory device, the signal indicating whether a given set of bits is DBI-encoded. For relatively narrow memory device interfaces having, for example, four data links for transferring read and write data (a four-bit wide interface), the extra pin for DBI control purposes is often unduly burdensome. As a result, DBI encoding is often not utilized for narrow memory devices.